Tingling
by Annabeth's Sister
Summary: Also in my story, Percabeth Drabbles (Originally Christmastime Drabbles) Long fic. AU. Oneshot. Annabeth and Percy, even at age six, have always had this sort of connection; they feel a tingling whenever they touch. When Percy holds Annabeth's hand as she rides down a slide for the first time at age six, they become best friends. But what if that friendship becomes something more?
1. Chapter 1

Annabeth stood at the top of the slide, trembling. The six-year-old could ace math tests, do multiplication and division, read even with dyslexia, but she could not face down a stupid slide! Why? Her lip trembled, and she prepared to back away, when she heard a voice behind her say, "Are you scared?"

She didn't want to admit it, but she nodded.

"I was scared too, the first time I tried. It looks so high, right?"

She again nodded.

"I know it's against the rules, but..." the voice leaned in close and she saw black hair of a boy her age. He cupped his hand over her ear and started to whisper. "I can go with you. It will be less scary. My mom went with me on my first slide."

"Okay," Annabeth said. She hated getting help from others, but he seemed friendly, and she wanted support.

He grabbed her hand, and their fingers touched. They slid down together, and the slide suddenly didn't seem so high anymore.

Annabeth asked the black-haired boy his name after they got off from the slide. She also noticed that Percy's eyes were sea green, like the ocean. She liked the name Percy. To her, it was cute. She thought of the sea, when she saw his eyes, and she thought of seaweed. Seaweed Brain, she thought to herself. She chuckled.

"What's funny?" Percy asked.

"I was thinking of a funny nickname for you. It's kind of mean, though, so I'm not going to say it."

"Tell me what it is, please. It's okay if it's mean."

"Okay. But it is mean. Seaweed Brain."

"How is that mean?"

"It means your head is full of seaweed, which it isn't, because it is full of brains. Everybody's head is."

"My mom says my head is full of kelp sometimes. Then she always smiles and ruffles my hair. I think she's trying to take the kelp out when she does that, so that I'm not so silly. But she smiles, so that I don't know she's doing it. Well, she's wrong. I know she is doing it. I figured it out. My head isn't that full of kelp. Or seaweed."

Annabeth smiled to herself. He really was a Seaweed Brain. Kelp and seaweed were the same things.

"So, you wanna go again? Together? It will be fun," Percy begged. "Please? Pretty please? Pretty, pretty please with ice cream and a cherry on top? PLEASE?"

Annabeth threw her head back and laughed. "Did I ever say no, Seaweed Brain?"

Then she took his hand and ran off to the line with him.

_**(line break)**_

"Wanna go into the water again?" Percy asked.

"No, I'm tired," Annabeth replied.

"Okay. Oh yeah, happy seventh birthday. Why do you have to be older than me? It's not fair!"

"It's only a few months, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth laughed.

"So? It means you're still older than me."

"Let's stop talking about this, Seaweed Brain. You wanna draw me and you?"

"Sure."

Annabeth drew a few shapes, and it came out looking like a typical stick figure. A circle with lines protruding out of it in different angles.

O( . . )0

O( U )0

O | O

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/ | \

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**(A/N: You do not know how hard it is for an inexperienced computer drawer to draw something like that, so give me some credit. I know people can draw that better than me)**

Percy drew a similar drawing, only his had circles at the top, instead of down the sides. But he drew his to have an extra long arm, that reached to the side and connected to the line on Annabeth's stick-her. Then he drew a circle connecting the two.

"Aww, we're holding hands," Annabeth said.

"Like the slide," Percy replied.

"Wanna measure our hands?"

"What?"

"Put your hand on mine, like this..."

She guided his hand by holding his wrist, and laid it against hers, and held both up. "Darn, your hand's bigger than mine!"

"It's cause I'm a boy."

"No, that's not why. You're just big."

"Fine. Mom! Take a picture!"

"Of what, honey?" Sally Jackson asked. "Oh, your drawings. That's so cute! I'm definitely taking a picture!"

_**(line break of linebreakness)**_

"What? Did you read dog as god again?" Mark teased Annabeth. "Or was it elephant as telephone?"

He and his friends snickered.

Annabeth's lip quivered. How could an eight-year old be so mean?

"You can't even spell your name, Annabeth, you're stupid."

A few tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes, and she cursed herself silently. They were now going to tease her about being a baby. But she didn't walk away. She was too proud of herself.

"Ha ha, look, Annabeth is crying, aww, she's so SAD!"

Mark and his cronies snickered, and Annabeth couldn't respond, she was so upset.

"Well, Mark, at least Annabeth can read a little bit, even if it's harder for her," a voice said from behind her, curling around her head, giving her strength. Percy was suddenly grabbing her hand.

"And she can spell my big name, and that's awesome by itself."

"What is it, Crybaby?" Mark asked smugly.

"P-E-R-S-E-U-S," Annabeth said confidently.

"Um, okay, that's right."

"And if I broke your arm, you'd cry. Actually, even if I gave you a Indian Burn. Wouldn't you cry then? I know Annabeth wouldn't. Annabeth, can I do a Indian burn on you?"

"Yeah, you can give me AN Indian burn," Annabeth corrected.

Percy did an Indian burn, a real one,

as hard as he could, like he was supposed to. Annabeth could tolerate pain. She didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Want me to do it to you?" Percy asked Mark.

"Um, no," Mark ran away.

Percy laughed, and grabbed Annabeth's hand. "Let's go on the slide."

_**(line break)**_

"I feel so strange," Percy told Annabeth lying down next to him, in Annabeth's bed. He was moving to a different house, in the same district, but just a different house. Closer to Annabeth's. Totally a coincidence. The Jacksons were staying over with the Chases, and Annabeth's stepbrothers had voted Percy to be in Annabeth's room. Not like either had anything against it.

The two were holding a flashlight together, and making shadow shapes with it. Their fingertips brushed a number of times, and they both liked the feeling. A lot. Neither realized what it was.

"Why do you feel strange?"

"I'm a boy, and you have two brothers, and for some reason I'm in YOUR room. I feel funny."

Annabeth was beet red. "Well, you're moving. This is an exception."

"What's an exception?

The nine-year-old rolled her eyes. "Seaweed Brain, it's when something doesn't follow the rules once."

"Okay."

"Let's just keep making shadow-puppets."

"Okay."

When Sally Jackson came to Annabeth's room to check on Percy, she found the cutest sight.

Percy and Annabeth were both back-to-front, Percy against Annabeth's back. His hand was curled over her side and in hers. His other hand was by his cheek, (coincidentally?) entangled in her blonde curls.

Sally snapped a photo with the disposable camera that was sitting in her purse, and gently shook Percy awake.

When he awoke, he muttered incoherent phrases groggily, then jumped up and away from Annabeth after noticing their position.

But he relished the tingling left of their hands touching.

_**(line break of linebreakness)**_

"So, she said to me, "who do you have a crush on?" and I told her, "I've never had a crush on anybody," and she was like, "you sure?" and I was so mad!"

"Who was it?"

"Dylan."

"Oh. Doesn't she have a sidekick or somebody? What's her name? Katrina?"

"Katherine."

"Yeah."

"That's why I hang out with you. But the problem is," Annabeth leaned close, and whispered in his ear, "since we've known each other since we were six, she thinks there might be a... budding romance. I told her to get the H away from me."

Percy blushed, and walked forward in the slower-than-molasses lunch line.

"You blush so easily, which is why Katherine thinks you have a crush on me. It's disgusting. I hate it when people jump to conclusions. I mean, a girl can't have a best friend who's a guy in fifth grade? Or if one is even seen talking to a guy, they MUST either be dating them or have a crush on them? I thought that started in high school."

"Nope, it starts when the populars stop wearing dresses and switch to skimpy shorts that are not following dress code."

"Percy! Stop stereotyping!" Annabeth said, friendlily punching him in the forearm, but the twinkle in her eye showed that she agreed silently.

The two slowly moved forward in the lunch line silently, and Annabeth saw the last bag of animal crackers was left. She knew they were cheesy, but she reached for them. She needed something sweet.

But her hand was intercepted by another. Their fingertips touched, and Annabeth felt that familiar spark that she felt whenever she touched Percy's hand. She still didn't know what that feeling was, but she still liked it after all these years.

"Sorry," mumbled Percy, blushing and putting the crackers into her plate.

"It's okay, you can have them," Annabeth told Percy.

"We can share. We sit together at lunch anyways."

"Wow, you're not such a seaweed brain all the time," Annabeth gave him a smile, and placed the cookies in her plate. "Money's on me."

_**(line break of awesomeness)**_

"Hi, Percy. U on?" Annabeth typed into the chat box for her email.

"Im here. u wanna chat?"

"Sure."

"So... howz life?"

"Just turning 12 doesn't feel different."

"Oh I forgot. You're 12! Happy b-day! My mom's right now calling your dad and inviting u over. Wanna sleep over?"

"Sure, that'll be fun."

"Howz sixth grade?"

"You know how. You're in 3 of my classes."

" ;( you're not in all of them"

"boohoo. The likelihood of u being in all of my classes is almost impossible. THat would be something cliche, in a stupid romance movie."

"What hapened to your caps lock? it did THis."

"I hold the shift button for too long. And you spelled "happened" wrong"

The phone rang.

"Dad, it's Percy's mom, he told me, she wants to invite me to her house for a sleepover for my birthday! Can you say yes?"

"Sure," her dad replied. He picked up the phone and immediately said, "yes."

There was an inaudible voice on the other end.

Annabeth's dad replied, "Birthday Girl told me. Yeah, she's PACKING HER STUFF NOW," he said, giving her a look to do the stuff he was saying.

She silently cheered to herself and ran upstairs to get packed.

(mini line break)

"So, you're twelve," Percy said, lying next to her in the bed. "And I'm not twelve yet. It's not fair."

"We already went over this, every time my birthday rolled around, Seaweed Brain."

Her hair was splayed all around her face, forming those weird circles like around the heads of the Hindu gods she was learning about in History.

He was on his side, facing and gazing at her face, which was looking up, holding the flashlight. Her head turned to the side to smile at him, and he grinned back, then lay on his back. "It's one, we should go to bed now," Percy said.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, yawning, then turned on her side and faced Percy. He gave an almost invisible start. The new position, her face so close they were breathing the same air, was awkward for him. But Percy wasn't complaining. Over the years, his best friend had almost gotten... he didn't want to admit it, but she had gotten beautiful. Hot, even.

Annabeth's hand reached up and grabbed his, and she smirked, probably sensing Percy's awkwardness. Her soft breaths turned into quiet snores. He came closer and rested his forehead against hers unknowingly. The hand on the outside, facing the space above them, was around her waist. He didn't know when he put it there, but he didn't move it. Percy had kind of developed a crush on his best friend, and he didn't want to ruin their amazing friendship by telling her.

He fell asleep with these thoughts in his head.

Sally Jackson walked down to check on Percy and Annabeth, and she felt a strange sense of deja vu. There was her son, completely tangled up with his best friend. They were facing each other, so close that from an angle they looked like they were kissing, the arm on the outside was wrapped around her waist, her outside arm was against his chest, and their inside hands were intertwined. Their foreheads were touching, so were their noses.

Sally had to take another picture. She took a photo, and this time nudged Annabeth awake.

She had the same reaction Percy had when he was nine.

She woke up, muttering, then jumped up and shrieked ever so slightly at their position, then blushed and looked at Sally sheepishly.

When Percy awoke, Annabeth was gone. He almost groaned out loud. He loved the feeling of her hand in his, the tingly-ness.

_**(normal line break of linebreakness)**_

"Annabeth?" a voice asked.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"You wanna meet at the movies on Friday?"

Her head whipped around. Percy would never ask her out.

It was Earl, another kid in her seventh-grade homeroom. During study hall, he was disturbing her to ask her out. Not okay. But someone else came to the rescue. Someone she didn't expect.

"Sorry, Earl, but Annabeth and I were already planning to go to the movies for a friendly outing on Friday."

Annabeth almost smirked at Percy's furious expression, as if the idea of someone asking her out was terrible. Like a brother... or a boyfriend. She tried not to think about the latter. It felt weird.

"Okay?" Earl said, and walked away.

"Percy," Annabeth chided.

"What? I was planning on asking you about a friendly outing on Friday."

"Friendly outing? Are you sure?"

Percy nodded. "Positive," he winked, and put an arm around her shoulder, and whispered into her ear, "no more than friendly outings until eighth grade."

She pulled back and stared wide-eyed at him.

"Kidding," he laughed.

_**(line break of linebreakness)**_

"Hey," Percy said on the phone, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. This was his big chance.

"Hi, Perce," Annabeth's voice tinkled from the other side.

"You wanna go to the beach?"

"What do you want to do there?"

"Just sit," he said.

"Sure. See ya there in?"

"20 minutes. Why don't you come over, I'll walk with you."

"Sure."

20 minutes later, Annabeth rang the doorbell.

"Come in," Percy answered from his bathroom. "It's open."

He was drying his hair, his towel still around his torso, but he had boxers on **(A/N: Just in case anyone thinks anything)** underneath.

Annabeth walked into his bathroom and almost stopped in her tracks. The last time she had seen his open chest was actually not for a long time, and his fifteen-year-old chest had gotten muscular.

"You done?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'll just put on my swim trunks. Be right back."

Annabeth sighed and ran her hands through her hair. She just wanted to hold his hand. She loved the feeling, tingling, that she couldn't describe.

He came back, towel around his neck. He held his hand out, inviting her to hold it. "Let us go, my fair damsel," he said, mocking a medieval prince.

"Yes, let us go, my dear prince Charming," she answered, giggling, grabbing his hand and walking with him to the beach.

The two sat down, Annabeth in front of Percy, her head resting in the crook of his neck. His arms wrapped around her stomach, and she rested her hands on his. Her legs were crossed, his were out.

"Um, Annabeth?" Percy asked quietly and out of character.

"Yeah?" Annabeth said, turning her head so that they were facing each other. They were nose-to-nose. Her eyes were expecting something, and Percy felt his breathing go ragged. He was so close to Annabeth, he wanted to kiss her really badly.

So he did.

His mouth went forward, barely, but enough for Annabeth notice and reject if she wanted to. She didn't. His mouth moved more and more forward, and their lips brushed. He removed one of his hands, and placed it under her chin, and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. Their mouths moved against one another, and all Annabeth was feeling was ecstasy.

Their fingertips brushed, Percy smiled against the kiss, and deepened it.

_**(line break of linebreakness)**_

"Remember this slide?" Annabeth asked, her hand in Percy's.

He kissed her cheek. "Yeah, I remember."

She kissed his cheek back. "We met here. If I wasn't scared of slides, I don't know what would've happened. I wouldn't have met you. Can you believe I was SIX? It's been ten years, Perce! A DECADE! I feel like an old-timer with you. Not in a bad way. This is so amazing, I wonder how we ever deserved each other."

"We didn't, but we did at the same time," Percy said, nuzzling his nose into her neck.

"Percy, what are you doing? Right now, you remind me of a dog."

"So?"

"Stop."

"Sorry."

"S'okay."

No more words were exchanged as the two best friends and lovers walked away from the place they first met as small children. Their hands were intertwined, and the tingling was there.

That was all that was important.


	2. Terrible AN that you still must read

Oh. my. gosh.

I hate to be so blunt about this to all my fanfiction readers, but I'd better say this straight:

I'm not going to be doing fanfiction anymore. ever.

The explanation: My family decided that we were all "addicted to technology", so we have set up a household renunciation of screens except for work and school.

Which means I don't get my iPod at all.

Which means no fanfiction.

My parents set the password of my iPad so that my sister and I can't unlock it, but it happened to be unlocked and this is probably the last night of unlimited iPod (and fanfiction) use for a long time, and I've got to use the time to tell uou guys and explain.

I can still check my email, (fifteen minutes a day) so I can see your reviews and favorites and follows (they make me smile), so don't hesitate to leave reviews anyways.

Once in a while, I might be able to go onto fanfiction for a short update to Percabeth Drabbles, but… rarely.

I am horrified to be delivering such news on such a pleasant time as 1 day after Percy's birthday, but I'm on fanfiction today and today only.

Fortunately, I didn't startpublishing Son of Colors yet, since each chapter has a cliffhanger ending and it would be torturous if you didn't read that for a long time. :)

But I will sill work on Son of Colors, and when it's done I'll publish it.

I am so sorry about this, but I needed to tell you...

Ratt


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